Mass Effect Humasari 2: Civil War
by Javamonsoon
Summary: Against the backdrop of a looming civil war in the Greater Asari Expanse, Qibbie honors her promise to Ellyon and the duo sets out to rescue the ardat-yakshi Mica L'Sidow from an oppressive monestary under Justicar control. But what angle is Qibbie playing and will Shepard, Liara and their friends be able to do anything about it? Continuation of Mass Effect: Humasari.
1. Preface

**Preface**

When I finished Humasari back then, I was done with Ellyon because Qibbie the quarian became a much more important character to me. I was going through a difficult period of time with my health and came a few times, but still more than I'd like, close to buying the farm. Qibbie kept pace with that, faced with great aversity in her life, she overcame all obstacles and emerged from the other side as a much stronger and ultimately better grounded person than that Ellyon is.

After Ellyon's two years in the Institute for Challenged Asari, she was basically done as she had overcome her obstacles with flying colors, though she really hadn't learned anything apart from how to not be a raging smart-bomb. She isn't Quibbie, and she'll never will be as I set her up as a power-fantasy where the only smart thing that I gave her was the fact that she trades on what she could do as opposed to what she does.

Writing the story was a learning process too, I went from total hack with a semi-fun idea and little notion as to where I should take Ellyon's story to semi-competent story-teller who learned how to get ideas across with structure and cohesion. How much I've grown over the years is evident in my other stories, many of which I've never published and never will.

But Ellyon's story wasn't told yet in full, no matter how vehemently I wrote that I was done on that fateful chapter where Ellyon, sprung free from her cryo-prison by Qibbie, decides to follow the tortured quarian into space instead of returning to where it all begun, Shinobu's and Liara's luxury condo in New London from where you can see the New London Eye and up there in the sky the much hated Citadel.

Ellyon's true love is Mica L'Sidow, the hapless ardat-yahksi so powerful that only Ellyon's counter-biotic have a hope of resisting that destructive primal carnality. Qibbie made a deal with Ellyon, if after fourty years have passed Ellyon still longed after Mica, she would help Ellyon to liberate Mica from whatever monestary she would presently be held.

I think that's as good a place as any to get re-aquainted with the small asari with the weird scalpplates, on eyebrow and untold counter-biotic power.

Shinobu will be over seventy and Liara will have celebrated her bicentennial, Aethyta and Aria will be just older and do whatever it is that they always did. Because ultimately, the story is a coming-of-age stage story where everybody discovers stuff about themselves as they go along. I think that this precise given is what makes the original story 'good' despite it's rocky and very bad start. Even the elusive man learned a thing or two.

I do hope that my sickness yet allows me to write about my favorite mongrelloid asari for a while. The hiata I was forced to inject in the old story frequently really took the momentum out of it and it made blisteringly obvious how I gained confidence in my writing in segmented blocks in a most jarring way. It's great for myself to read it back and see how far I have come despite myself and the way my life unfolds, but it makes for a story that feels as if five different people wrote it, each with their own style and vision.

And in a way, that's the truth of it.

Thanks for reading this new story. I appreciate you more than you know.


	2. Dedication

Dedicated to you. You're aces.

[Kids will be skeletons] – Mogwai

[If you promise to stay conscious, I'll try and do the same.] – Lua

[… Because I know that I will kill my enemies as they come.] – Shawn James

[Does any of you feel like any of this is wrong?] – Xavier Rudd


	3. Part One: A New London Get Together

1.

A figure wearing a hoodie with the hood pulled up made her way through the streets of New London. Walking on digitrade legs, the almost comical bounce betrayed her as a quarian while the ease at which she moved without a hardsuit gave her away as a rannoch-born, a rannie. As she gently, but willfully, moved through the crowded streets that grew more crowded as she neared the New Royal Mile, the casual but finely cut fabric of her clothes rustled like a whisper, a high quality concerto to match the rythm of her bounce.

A sturdy high quality leather pouch bungled off her lower back, hiding from sight her illegally modded quarian shotgun to the eyes of the unknowing, of the people who were awaiting the Crown March, traditionally spearheaded by the Black Watch.

Just as Qibbie Vas Rannoch reached the New Royal Mile, the Black Watch got their marching orders and they started their march down the New Royal Mile as fifteen magnificently uniformed pipers set the tempo with 'Scotland the Brave'. The typical wail of the bagpipes was alien to Qibbie's ears, but the intent of the march wasn't lost on her. She suppressed an involuntary shiver as the Black Watch Pipers passed her by. Humans surrounding her saluted the Black Watch with revered respect and tears ran down faces left and right. The Pipers were followed by equally magnificently uniformed soldiers shouldering turian made laser-rifles. Qibbie spotted a few salarians, turians, asari and a krochan in their strode perfectly with the tempo and Qibbie realised that the concrete under her toes she balanced on vibrated in the rythm of their steps. The soldiers were followed by an armored limousine Qibbie didn't know or understood the significance of, but as it passed her, the crowd became solemn, almost defiantly so. Qibbie caught a short glimpse of a crown on a display in the limousine, but she could only guess at what the symbol would mean for the humans around her. The limousine was followed by further rows of soldiers and as the wail of the bagpipes got further away from her, so did Qibbie's interest.

She resumed her gentle but willful push through the crowd anew and despite the crowd's density she progessed surpisingly quick upwards the New Royal Mile, further and further away from the Black Watch' march. Qibbie came to a halt again, infront of a gallery that had chosen this day and time for a vernissage of Admiral Shepard's latest paintings. Measuredly and calm Qibbie pulled back her hood. Still mesmerisingly sultry, the last fourty years had done little to Qibbie's face. She had traded in her shoulder-length hair for a thick pixie-cut that helped to make her appear younger than the seventy years that she now counted.

Qibbie was well aware that fourty years had passed since she, helped by Sisters of the Eclypse, freed Ellyon Rannoch Tuchanka T'Soni-Shepard, the stunted counter-biotic with the weird scalpplates and one eyebrow crowning her left eye, from the cryo-prison on Iona 4. For a while, both Qibbie and Ellyon travelled together and when Qibbie returned to Rannoch to start her reform of the rannochian agriculture, Ellyon followed and started with filling in the blanks of twelve years of cryotic suspension. Eventually, Ellyon returned to Earth where she would go on to become a professor of post-Reaper history, specializing in the rise and fall of the Fresh Start Movement, the FSM. Seen as a provocative and flammatory voice in the academic world, Ellyon was nevertheless a respected scholar in her field. Qibbie herself had met success with her agri-cultural reforms and now commanded a galaxy-spanning dextro-food empire. Unable to convince her first love Aleda Vas Invincible of her affections, Qibbie married a comely quarian girl thirty years younger than she was twenty years ago. Together they adopted two orphaned quarian kids, brother and sister, whom they raised to take up positions in Vas Rannoch Industries. Qibbies marriage wilted into an arrangement of convenience over the years. Comfortable, but ultimately loveless. Months passed in which Qibbie would never even find her wife home without caring where she might be. Her adopted kids were getting ready to leave the nest and lived their lives mostly away from their adoptive home, but they bombarded Qibbie's social media with selfies taken allover Rannoch with people she didn't recognize. Qibbie counted her adopted kids as the only thing she had ever done right and seeing them being happy, carefree and financially independent gave Qibbie a warm feeling indeed. As Qibbie's dextro-food empire didn't need her presence anymore than her wife and kids did, Qibbie had her hands free to follow her own path again. On this day, fourty years since Ellyon's jail-break.

Qibbie produced an invitation and a vernissage catalogue from the iconic hoodie frontpouch and peered through the etalage-screen into the gallery. There was a small, but elegant gathering inspecting Admiral Shepard's latest works. Qibbie sighed. The vernissage had Ellyon's scheming written allover it. Fourty years to the day. Qibbie made herself no illusions. Fourty years ago, she pledged herself to Ellyon's cause to rescue her hesistant lover, the Ardat-Yakshi Mica L'Sidow, from the hidden monestary the hapless asari was banished to due to Ellyon's actions. Qibbie guessed it would've been too much to ask from Ellyon to let the past be the past. She knew the little Sarat-Sashi all too well. Even becoming a professor in the rise and fall of the FSM and the impact of that happening on the Greater Asari Expanse was all in preparation for this day. Keelah, even Ellyon's acceptance speech of her learned seat was peer-reviewed as 'inherently revolutionary rethoric ment to incite and enflame peaceful subjects of a stable government'. Yet, every voice in opposition of Ellyon's academic stance was well aware they were dealing with a counter-biotic of untold and uncharted power, a power steeped deep in legend and conjecture, made up to fabled proportions by willing tongues.

For the last thirty-five years the two women hadn't spoken eachother, but neither needed to speak to the other to stay in the know. As Ellyon's academic fame grew, so did Qibbie's industrial exploits in scope. The both of them rarely didn't make the news or were rarely not mentioned in one talk-show or the other. The only thing that bothered Qibbie about her fame was the fact that her two kids were constantly followed by the tabloids, but to their credit the siblings handled the constant attention with grace.

Qibbie didn't tarry any longer and entered the gallery as she hoped, fashionably late. A greeter dressed in an immaculate smoking bowed and straightened, obviously annoyed that he couldn't accept Qibbie's coat to keep in guard. Qibbie wore none. 'Welcome, madam..?' The charade put up by the greeter tickled Qibbie's funny bone, but she was aware that vernissages were formal gatherings were the cultural elite rubbed elbows. 'Qibbie Vas Rannoch, CEO of Vas Rannoch Industries and captain of industry. Please accept my invitation and my excuses for my lack of decorum. I'm a friend to the family, as you surely understand.', Qibbie spoke friendly, going along with was expected of her. The greeter bowed once more, 'Very well, madam Vas Rannoch.' The greeter straightened and announced Qibbie's arrival, which caused the high society crowd already present to fall silent and pay attention as Qibbie calmly bounced further into the gallery.

The owner of the gallery, a dandy of advanced years, approached her, 'Madam Vas Rannoch, your visit to the vernissage honors my gallery surely.', as he extended his hand, which Qibbie accepted and lightly shook he continued, 'Would you mind if we seized the moment to have our meeting immortalized?' Qibbie smiled, 'Not at all.' Still holding the gallery-owner's hand, they both turned to an especially present photographer and Qibbie conjured a fresh smile on her lips as the photographer did his work. 'Have you have a work in mind to place a bid on, madam Vas Rannoch?', the owner inquired through his smile and Qibbie answered through her smile, 'Please, were these works appraised by a shepardist instead of an art-appraiser? I'm wealthy, but not stupid.' To the gallery-owner's credit he remained steadvastly in his role as the perfect host, 'I see. Please enjoy the vernissage, madam Vas Rannoch. I'll let you to mingle.' With perfect smiles to eachother, the gallery owner and Qibbie parted ways. Qibbie silently hoped that the owner parted to put salve on his burns. With the initial formalities behind her, the crowd returned to their ends as Qibbie friendly nodded to faces she recognized as the human elite who she had indirect dealings with. As her imperium handled mostly in dextro, the human element was sparse in her business but yet important enough to acknowledge. Qibbie was sure that her showing up without her partner gave the crowd enough talk to leave her sufficiently alone.

'I can read lips, you know.', a voice said behind her, without malice, 'Shepardist... I almost broke decorum.' The voice was as lite as the small framed asari it belonged to. Qibbie chuckled as she turned to look Ellyon in the face, 'Don't worry Elly. My volus will haggle on 'Shotgun Goddess' in my name. I'm sure the rake will be sufficient.' Ellyon shrugged in mischief, 'Pfff, all what our families do is shifting the same money to eachother at this point. None of us is crying any tears over loose change these days.', Ellyon took a moment to seize up her one true friend and continued, 'Are you aware that you entered the Galaxy Fortune Five recently? You're the fourth most wealthy person in the galaxy, and you look to die for. Whatever is your secret, you spacehippie?' Qibbie crossed her arms as her face became more sultry than it quarianly possible could get, 'That same list has the Shadow Broker in the fifth spot and the Elusive Man in the first and I am to believe that? Does asarinism blind one to malarky? Have your scalpplates become longer? Other than that, you haven't changed a bit, Elly. Congratulations on your professorate. That must have stung your mother a bit, I guess?'

Ellyon frooze for a moment as she realised something, 'I... I never asked how she felt about it. Blue mom was as supportive as she always is...' Qibbie couldn't help herself, 'Ever the skyball-mom she is. She's my rolemodel. Don't let it get to your head.' Ellyon perked up, 'Yes! How are Arvo and Ranna doing outside of the tabloids?' Qibbie brought up her left arm and fiddled with her OT a bit. As she showed Ellyon the latest selfies of her adopted kids Arvo and Ranna, the vernissage had reached the point were the artist of the hour, Admiral Shinobu Shepard, would be introduced to the invited elite.

The ceremony went as well as could be expected with Shinobu being the center of attention. 'Don't go cross-eyed, don't go cross-eyed.', Ellyon rooted for her mother as Qibbie did her best to not burst out in laughter. As Shinobu torturously underwent the ceremony, Qibbie couldn't help but notice that the admiral seemed to not have grown any older as well, even though the ever stoic oriental woman was well in her eighties. 'Sheesh, where have you been to not know? You have the Salarian Solution to keep you from dying for being in the general vincinity of a chocolate-chip cookie. For humans who bonded with asari there's Salarian Prolong. It greatly delays human aging.', Ellyon reacted and Qibbie nodded, 'That makes sense. Most of the scientists in my company are salarians. Their minds scare me, but you can't argue the results.'

'You sure can't.', Ellyon agreed as she applauded her mother's akward appreciation speech. Only Ellyon could see the relief on Shino's face for having lived through it. 'They used to lick their eyes.', Qibbie said as she applauded along. Ellyon shot Qibbie a sidelong glance, 'What?'

'Salarians.', Qibbie clarified, 'They also ate flies.' Ellyon did her utmost to keep a straight face, 'I see it's bed-time already, young lady. You're doing this on purpose.' Qibbie was mildly satisfied with Ellyon's struggle to not succumb to a laughing-fit and decided to show the small asari some mercy as she managed to be the first to compliment Shinobu with a very successful vernissage. Shinobu appeared to be genuinely happy with Qibbie's presence, 'Qibbie! Thanks for coming. I know that your accountant handles your earth-dealings, but Ellyon insisted on pointedly inviting you. I wouldn't have hold it against you had you not come. But it's good to see you in person again.', Shinobu fell silent for a bit and then added, 'Being a mother has done you good. There's something in your face that wasn't there before. Radiance. Contentment. I'm glad.' Qibbie wanted to offer her thanks for Shinobu's compliment, but the latter was called away and had to excuse herself. Qibbie could do none but let Shinobu entertain her guests. 'Was that yellow mom?', Ellyon asked and Qibbie offered, 'That, or a very expensive piece of quarian engineering that says all the right things in your mother's voice.' Ellyon audibly snickered as she figured that the vernissage had now entered the informal stage, 'Well, she had to get well over eighty to come this far. Let's go find blue mom, while I make sure that everyone sees that I have Qibbie Vas Rannoch as arm-candy at this high-brow vernissage. Shall we, madam Vas Rannoch, Phd?' Qibbie laughed in a dignified manner, 'We shall, learned madam T'Soni-Shepard.'

Liara was being held by a group of turian art-critics who regaled her with a deep analysis of her wife's art. With Liara's reputation as an erratic historian and flakey archeologist, while being the plucky poster-girl of Shadow Broker Insterstellar with the temperament of a skyball-mom, the turians were almost speaking in tongues to show their superior intelligence in a place where Liara couldn't very well retaliate with a deadly amount of newtons. Qibbie needed naught a second to gauge the situation and intervened, 'Can I inconvenience the gentlemen to surrender madam T'Soni to me?', Qibbie asked with the most diplomatic smile on her lips. The turians immedeately recognized the quarian dextro-farmer and graciously bowed out. 'Lest you go hungry.', Ellyon whispered as the turians turned away. Liara lightly shook her head at the two women in front of her, 'Ever the mischievous, Qibbie? But thanks for the rescue all the same. And you, young lady,', Liara continued at Ellyon, '.., mind your manners.'

'Yes, mom.', Ellyon habitually answered and then realised that she had done so, 'Sheesh!' Liara looked obviously pleased with the small victory over he daughter in a motherly way but instead of teasing Ellyon a bit more, she turned to Qibbie, 'You're staying at our place, I hope, Qibbie? Our door is always open to you as you well know?' Qibbie showed the palms of her hands, 'It'll be my pleasure, Ellyon's mom.', playing along with Ellyon's force of habit to be a literal daughter. Liara couldn't help but beaming with pride as she looked at the two women in front of her, falling easily back in the roles they had as eightteen year olds, suddenly so very long ago. It was weird for Liara to admit that becoming an equal had been the hardest thing she had ever done. Liara decided that she rather remained a mother and Ellyon had largely gone along with that desire. Liara reckoned that Ellyon did so because that was familiar, safe and most of all 'cosy'. And sometimes Ellyon would lose herself and defer to Liara like a teenager would, much to Liara's sans-malice glee. To see the very successful quarian friend to her daughter, albeit in jest, fall in line with it did Liara heaps of good. Liara appreciated Qibbie's gesture with a wink and sobered, 'How have you been, Qibbie? Outside of what I learn from the extranet, of course.' A weird feeling overcame Qibbie as going from the wink to the question it seemed as if Liara, for a very fleeting moment, was staring straight into her soul before becoming a seemingly doting skyball-mom again. Liara, being the Shadow Broker, knew full well how Qibbie had been as one of her agents even sat on the board of directors of Vas Rannoch Industries. Other Shadow Broker agents were keeping a close eye on Qibbie's estranged wife and on Qibbie's adopted siblings Arvo and Ranna, quietly making sure that neither of the three would come to, or cause, harm in one way or the other. For locating and mounting a daring rescue to free Ellyon from cryo stasis, Qibbie had forever earned the protection of the Shadow Broker. Liara even knew that Qibbie had taken the time to watch the Black Watch start their march down the New Royal Mile and that the expensive leather pouch bungling off Qibbie's lower back hid her shotgun from plain sight before Qibbie had even made it to the gallery. Yet, Liara listened with interest to Qibbie's talking as she guided both Qibbie and Ellyon along Shinobu's paintings and past the people that needed to see that the family held close relations with the single most driving force behind the rannochian economy. It would surely come in handy one day. Along the way, Ellyon took Liara's hand and so walking and talking, moving through the high society present at her wife's vernissage, Liara felt a happiness she silently wished could last forever. Even if Shinobu wouldn't sell a painting, the vernissage was a win for as far as Liara was concerned.

When the trio came upon where Shinobu was talking with some important guests, Liara could see on Shinobu's face that she was making a mental snapshot of the three of them. A new painting, Liara knew and one the Shadow Broker would buy out as soon as it hit a collector's auction in the future. Just as right now her agents were subtlely influencing the prices of the paintings at the vernissage skywards. Shinobu introduced the guests she was entertaining, but one of the guests, a stately woman who was dressed in an assemble that was worth the value of a small shuttle interrupted her,'Hold on, dear, I recognize that picture of quarian sultryness from afar. Qibbie Vas Rannoch, Rannoch's very own captain of industry. Delighted to finally meet you in person, madam Vas Rannoch. My husband, Loydd Thorogood, does business with one of your subsidiaries. You must know, I'm an avid collector of Shinobu's paintings of your person. It's obvious to collectors in Shinobu's incrowd that you surely are her muse. To finally see you in the flesh is most... striking... and if you allow, most unsettling.'

'A pleasure to make your aquaintance, madam Thorogood. I have been called a great many things over the years, but never unsettling. It's an unusual compliment.', Qibbie spoke pleasantly, making a show out of being right at home at this kind of gathering, 'I'll mention your husband to my agents, surely favorable outcomes for us both can be achieved in our future dealings.' Madam Thorogood graciously nodded, her mission accomplished. She didn't object when Shinobu excused herself and her family. 'You should've thrown in a keelah.', Shinobu offered once out of earshot, 'The croon would've loved that.' Qibbie laughed, 'Please, I married a girl and raised two keelahs. I can do without the understanding for the rest of my life.' Ellyon didn't miss a beat, 'So much keelah...' Qibbie returned without malice in her voice, 'Careful, Elly. I might yet decide to go home...' Ellyon crossed her arms while her eyes silently dared Qibbie to say it. Qibbie surrendered, '.., bosh'tet.' Ellyon punched her right fist into her open left hand, 'Score!' Liara suppressed a facepalm and Shinobu suggested to blow the joint. 'They don't need me at this point, it's impolite to discuss worth infront of the artist.' Liara agreed and herded Qibbie and Ellyon towards the gallery's exit, 'Not a moment to soon as well, the kids are getting restless.'

2.

The group declined a limousine-ride to the luxury condo as New Hyde Park wasn't that far a distance from the New Royal Mile. Besides, Shinobu and Liara needed to work the formal behavior out of their systems. The banter was light-hearted, laced with the laughter of Ellyon who took the chance to release her pented up excitability collected at her mother's vernissage with both hands. All too soon for both Shinobu and Liara, they were at the door of their condo. 'When last your stayed over, I lifted one of your hairs from the pillow of your bed and added your bio-markers to the lock, Qibbie.', Shinobu said casually, 'I'm sure that Liara has already told you that the door is always open to you. Go ahead, do the honors.' Qibbie shook her head in disbelief, 'Here I was thinking that it was a kind saying.'

'Oh, it is.', Liara answered chipperly, 'Shino just doesn't understand that.' Qibbie hesitated to place her hand on the bio-lock that would open the door leading into the home of two people who were more thankful to Qibbie than she could begin to fathom. At lest Ellyon pushed Qibbie's hand against the lock and the door repeated Qibbie's full name back to her before giving way. As Qibbie stepped through, Liara's assistant Glyph, a holographic sphere and tasked AI, descended from the ceiling, 'Ah, mistress Vas Rannoch! Your last visit was thirty-five years ago. You left behind a treatise on the preservation of rannochian high-landic soil-samples. I've kept it for your retrieval. I imagine you might be delighted to finally be reunited with your property. I trust you're well, mistress?' Qibbie laughed as the absurdity of the moment hit her and recovered, 'I'm well, Glyph. But I think that the treatise has been QED'd long since. It can safely be disposed of. Thanks.' Ellyon pushed Qibbie further into the condo while telling Glyph to buzz off. 'Come on, up the stairs, Qibbie. I need to discharge, cook dinner, set the table, make sure everything is just so and catch up on some reading before lights out. Post haste, if you will.' Qibbie climbed the stairs that would lead to the condo proper and replied, 'Not your just so, Elly. I'm not autistic.' Liara bumped into Shino who almost fell backwards from the stairs over Qibbie's backtalking. But instead of setting off on one of her feared flare ups, Ellyon shrugged Qibbie off, 'At least let me pass then. I really need to discharge, spacehippie.' Qibbie flattened herself a little and let Ellyon push past while giving the small asari a few playful taps on the head. As Ellyon disappeared into the home, Qibbie caught on to the confusion of Shinobu and Liara, 'I just never give her the time of day when she gets like that.', Qibbie explained smilingly, 'Elly took to it quick and it became just something that we do.', Qibbie seemed to remember something as her face shifted between several emotions, 'I better go and help Elly past the "oh, gross" ordeal.' As Qibbie set after Ellyon and disappeared into the home Shinobu shot a look at Liara while lightly shaking her head, 'I... I'm jealous. A spacehippie is playing our daughter like a piano and yet lives.' As they ascended the stairs Liara added, 'That same spacehippie also survived twelve years of asari lock-up, humiliated Aria, rescued Ellyon, annihilated a crack Eclypse squad, reformed rannochian agriculture and raised two children to young adulthood successfully. Weirdly enough, I got the feeling that helping Ellyon discharge comes the hardest for her. I just don't understand how it even became a thing and why she falls into her role so automatically.' As they entered the home as well Liara continued while Shinobu let herself fall on a comfy couch, 'I admit to the sting that Qibbie gets to help Ellyon where we get rejected.'

Liara moved to the open kitchen and bussied herself with pouring two tall glasses of soda before returning to the couch where Shinobu broodingly launched. 'Oh come on, Shino.', Liara reacted at Shinobu's display, 'It isn't that bad. If any person gets to help Ellyon, no one better than Qibbie when it's all said and done.' Shinobu straightened herself out and accepted her tall glass, 'I'm over it. It's that croon Thorogood. She was going on about collecting my paintings of Qibbie exclusively, but that means that she never bought any of my paintings.' Liara steeled herself, knowing what was coming. 'They're all in a private collection on Rannoch. A spacehippie collective keeps pouncing on every Qibbie painting that I do, with information that borders on insider-knowledge. Liara.'

Liara inspected her tall glass, that really didn't need inspecting, 'Then I guess that mrs Thorogood collects catalogue clippings of those paintings.', realising that she had snarked, Liara hastily added, 'Admiral Vas Qib-Qib. The poor man struggles with a lot of guilt. The quarian art-collective is a front he hides behind when buying the paintings. He survived his wife and alienated his daughter. So the Shadow Broker washes a hand and gets his hands washed in return.'

Shino took to brooding again and Liara relaxed. Liara was a peerless Shinobu-expert and knew the worst was over with. She picked up voices coming from the bathroom. One unmistakingly asari, lite and relatively carefree and one quarian voice, deliberate and studied. Liara couldn't make out what was being discussed as the bathroom was an independent unit to the house, especially build to withstand a Sarat-Sashi. But it was friends talking.

'Can I have Qibbie assassinated?', Shinobu informed. Liara just said 'No. You can't afford the Shadow Broker.' Shinobu shrugged and unwilling to stop with her little game she offered, 'Vorcha are cheap. Aria will give them to me for free.' Liara turned to Shinobu and scolded, 'What have the Vorcha ever done to you?' Shinobu gave it some thought, "Yeah, you're right. It wouldn't be a fair fight. The specifics on that shotgun frightens even me.'

'Sheesh moms! Envirolights? Music? Cosyness? Seriously, without me you two would still be sitting there with no lights on when it's dark out, wondering where your lives went wrong. Goddess!' Shinobu and Liara looked dutifully guilty as Ellyon fluttered around the livingroom making it all just so. Qibbie bounced around the couch towards a recliner and sat down, pulling up legs and resting her chin on her knees. Shinobu observed Qibbie for a while, following, 'I'm still at a loss.' Qibbie understood Shinobu's thoughts and while Ellyon made herself busy in the kitchen Qibbie replied, 'We travelled together in a two person shuttle. We've seen eachother at our most weak and vulnerable. That accounts for a lot, I guess.', Qibbie fell silent as a reminder on her OT started flashing. After checking the light Qibbie looked up from her OT, 'I'm sorry, would you mind if I listened to this OTcast? Agri-science, fascinating talk about Palaven river-clay.' Shinobu got up from the couch, 'Be my guest. I'll be in my workshop.' Liara got up as well, 'I'm going to see if Ellyon needs help with anything.' Qibbie smiled and produced a set of earbuds. Within moments she seemed to be fully engrossed in her OTcast.

'Dextro-casserole.', Ellyon explained without being asked as Liara took a seat on a stool at the cooking-island where Ellyon was busy. 'It's quick, easy and Qibbie murders for it. We'll be having pot-luck, otherwise we're irresponsibly wasteful.' Liara lightly shook her head, 'Irresponsibly wasteful? You're pre-emptively dodging a question, sweetheart.' Ellyon looked up from her cooking, to be greeted with Liara's mischievous smile. A smile that just as easily could've been on Ellyon's face. Ellyon was too busy to smile back, 'Ever since that day at the institute, Qibbie is the only other one who has witnessed me discharging. And I owe her a lot. She can get into my face, scream insults and set the tips of my scalpplates on fire and I'll thank her for it.', Ellyon dropped what she was doing and opened the oven to check on what was cooking inside. Her voice sounded muffled as she went on, 'When she reminds me that I'm being autistic.., it just connects. You know? It makes sense.' Liara observed her daughter working. She knew better than offering to help. Everything on the cooking island had a place, just so. Utensils ordered on size and need, pans on the correct spot getting the right heat, hands working steadingly and surely without needing to be watched by the asari they belonged to. Liara was amazed that Ellyon had never cut her fingers up, or burned something, or forgot an ingredient in the many things she was preparing seemingly at once. Liara didn't worry about her own inactivity. Ellyon would just find it cosy that someone was present to witness her working. Small talk would ruin the moment. Not that Liara found it easy still, but this situation was the result of a process of years. Ellyon would call it progress. When Ellyon suddenly started talking as she was wont to do, Liara jumped a little.

'We weren't always this way. Qibbie had betrayed my trust to get her transponder back from Malala, so that she could return to her pelgrimage. After she had sprung me from the cryo-chamber, it was just the next day for me. I didn't understand anything and was a schoolgirl about it. Also, Qibbie wasn't eightteen anymore, but thirty. Not a girl.', all the time that Ellyon was talking, she had never stopped anything that she was doing. Liara waited for Ellyon to continue speaking on her own volition, but Ellyon didn't seem prepared to pick it up again Liara spoke up, mindful of it not being a question, 'It bothers you.'

'She got to be beautiful.', Ellyon stated matter of factly as Liara stiffled a laugh. Ellyon gave her mother the annoyed daughter look and continued, ' But it's the beauty that comes with understanding who and what you are, I mean. We're not equals anymore and it took a long time for us to work past it all, but she never shipped me home. I can't measure up, but have to make the effort anyway.'

'Sweetheart, it isn't a competition.', Liara objected by using tone of voice, but Ellyon visibly discarded it and reacted, 'I must be seventy, but I'm fifty-eight. Qibbie is seventy as a fact. A twelve year chasm I can't cross.', Ellyon suddenly dropped everything and looked at the ceiling. After a while she adjusted to look at her mother, 'Thirty-five years later and I realise that I haven't even begun to collect the materials to start building a bridge. Qibbie and I just settled on some common ground in the bathroom that allows us to be comfortable.', Ellyon resumed cooking again, 'I feel tolerated, like back then. But also a friend who's been away for too long. It's duty.'

Liara went in her mind over the information that as the Shadow Broker had come her way. It was deeply troubling, but the Shadow Broker doesn't interfere. Information was merely a commodity that she bought and then sold off to the highest bidder. But Ellyon was very aware that she was talking to her mother as well as the Shadow Broker. Ellyon had been much too forward and open with her feelings for Liara to accept that it was a mere mother-daughter talk. Liara just settled on an observation for now, one she could only hope that right person would pay the highest price for eventually, 'Bodies will hit the floor.'

Ellyon looked into the livingroom and saw that Qibbie was securing her earbuds, her OTcast obviously finished. Shinobu came into the livingroom, attracted by the smell of expertly prepared food. 'Like a thunderstorm on a pic-nic for the oblivious but secure.', Ellyon said to no one in particular and then she raised her voice, 'Mama Shino, Qibbie, dinner is ready!'

3.

Liara patiently waited till Shinobu's soft snoring indicated deep sleep. Before getting out of bed Liara pulled up her panties and straightened her sleepingtee. She spend some time untangling herself from Shinobu's limbs and was finally able to get up. As soon as Liara was next to the bed, Shinobu usurped the warm spot on the matress Liara had left behind. Liara smiled at it and wanted to return to bed, but she needed something comfirmed of what she was effectively sure. Something that Liara as the Shadow Broker had puzzled together a long time ago, but was still locked in mystery despite her formidable resources.

Soundless, she exited out into the hallway and took some time to listen if anyone was awake. The house was deep in rest. Only the sounds that houses make one doesn't notice during the day occured, like settling woodwork. Liara didn't spook at those sounds, knowing full well the difference between sounds made by living beings and sounds made by materials acting on differences in ambient temperatures.

Liara ghosted through the livingroom to the part of the house that was never really lived in. It's where Shinobu had her workshop and where the rooms were where the people slept when it was the family's turn to organize christmas. Liara's Shadow Broker office was there too, as it wasn't a secret for the people who slept there during christmas. Even Aria T'Loak had at one time even been in one of her Shadow Broker offices on Thessia. To Aria's credit, she pretended not to know that that Shadow Broker held office in it. Liara made herself no illusions about Aria anyway, but if her current educated gutfeeling was as sure a shot as she knew it to be already, then a few masks could be dropped and that would make life a lot easier.

Passing Shinobu's workshop, where the very comforting smell of artist-paints wafted from, Liara came upon her offices. The reinforced door giving way to her offices was loose, but there were no lights on inside. 'An open door is an invitation.', Liara murmered, repeating a line Aria T'Loak once had said regarding doors and her Shadow Broker offices. With her right hand she pushed the door further open and the light from the corridor spilled into her offices. The screens were off and nothing seemed to be tampered with. But she noticed immedeately that someone was sitting in her chair. The light from the corridor shot off the weapon the figure was holding. 'Good evening, Shadow Broker.', a pleasant, but deliberate and studied voice welcomed. Liara nodded and before reaching for the light-switch proper she answered, 'Likewise, Colonel Qibbie Vas Rannoch, RCI. Rannochian Counter Intelligence.' Liara switched the lights on, that were programmed to slowly come online as to not blind anyone. 'I wasn't sure about that and kept it in mind as a rumor, Qibbie. When were you recruited into the RCI?' Qibbie calmly secured her shotgun and placed carefully on Liara's desk and then got out of Liara's chair. Qibbie made an inviting gesture to Liara to take her seat. Before answering Liara, Qibbie couldn't resist a joke-y observation, 'Both in our skivvies, people might get the wrong idea.' Liara resisted the urge to acknowledge the joke, but took her seat as her eyes went over her offices. 'I'm here, but I respect your hospitality. Your computers are fully secure. Besides, nothing you know will surprise the RCI. Mostly because you buy a lot of information from us to begin with.', Qibbie leasurely scratched the bridge of her nose where her eyebrows shot up to her hairline and then continued, 'If you're wondering how I got my shotgun through customs.., the answer is that I didn't. It was mailed peacemeal to the Rannochian Embassy over the course of an earth-week. It was assembled there and handed to me on the way to the gallery. It's a one to one copy of my own shotgun though, in my weapons locker aboard the Futura. I don't trust those pedastrians in the embassy to know how to handle really precious and dangerous tools, even with a step-by-step idiot-guide.'

Liara put her fingertops together and returned, 'Let's not waste time with smalltalk, Qibbie.' Qibbie pretended to be jolted by Liara's words, 'Right! I was recruited when in prison, when the RCI wasn't at all aboard with the accident that supposedly had killed me before I could be turned over to the custody of the rannochian diplomatic corps. I was already working some angles on my own in prison, but I doubt I would've been able to gain the pull that I eventually had without the RCI helping me along.'

Liara nodded. That fitted the puzzle she was waiting to complete for decades perfectly. Liara understood that Qibbie was putting up a show, she had placed he shotgun right in front of Liara and had stepped back far enough to be a target for Liara's biotics. The gestures were made, but how much Qibbie was willing to surrender was yet up for discovery. 'Go on.', Liara encouraged. Qibbie seemed to do calculations of something in her mind and continued, 'Effectively, it was the RCI that finally pinpointed Ellyon's cryo chamber on Iona 4, and I was ordered to spring her. I agreed, because that fitted the narrative that was going on anyway. For much what happened during that, the coincidences that made a lot of stuff happen, that groundwork was done by the RCI. Did you know that the leader of the Eclypse that was on that mission had figured me out for RCI? I was able to play it off as malarky, but Berryl L'Suride was a sharp woman. Everything I did after that has been used by my superiors to gather information and gain footholds allover the galaxy. You can imagine how powerful it is to have an operative that's also a well respected captain of industry who reformed the way Rannoch did agri-culture.', Qibbie paused for a moment, seemed to do some calculations again and shrugged, 'The RCI has spend a mountain of resources over the last thirty-five years to find one specific Ardat-Yakshi. Fruitlessly.'

'Mica L'Sidow.', Liara said, noddingly, 'I have never been able to pierce through the walls of the Justicars.' Qibbie lopsidedly smiled, 'We know. That's why I made the pact with Ellyon and suggested that she should specialize in the history of the FSM. None of us could've expected that she would go this far with it. Ellyon's academic opinions are even on the verge of destibalizing the Matriarchs, who are scrambling to undo her professorate acceptance speech ever since. For a challenged person without training to topple governments, Ellyon did work that would've financially crippled my government if they would've had to bankroll operatives to send the Greater Asari Expanse to the brink of a civil war.', Qibbie noticed the look on Liara's face and added, 'Ellyon is classed as a rogue factor. The RCI has no interest in her out of respect for Admiral Shepard and because once you try to get Ellyon to do your biding, the opposite will happen. In hindsight, the outcome as it stands now couldn't be any better, even if Rannoch doesn't gain anything by an asari civil war, apart from the easier placement of agents. It's not like the asari eat dextro or need lounge-chairs for digitrades.'

Liara chuckled at Qibbie's observations and briefly wondered what a civil war would do for herself as a thessian born asari. As the Shadow Broker she was neutral however. 'So, the fourty years have passed...', Liara mused. Qibbie nodded, 'Yesterday to the day. We go with Ellyon's plan that she herself had from the start. Ellyon and I start bludgeoning our way to the Ardat-Yakshi. We have no idea how to chart the future from there on out however, apart from the given that once Ellyon and I are done, the Sisterhood of the Justicars will be dismantled fully. We have no clear numbers on the die-hard FSM people out there. Already we're getting pro-FSM feedback from places that we had classed as firmly caste-bound.' Liara quickly assessed the situation, 'So even if you fan the fires with the destruction of the Justicar order, there's no telling if your actions will have any weight on the politcal landscape as a whole. It's all conjecture from here on out.' Qibbie yawned and stretched, she had been lightly bouncing on her toes for the whole time and she rolled her shoulders to work the kinks out of her muscles, 'It's more that at this point it's up to the asari. The FSM never really died. If we fan any fire, we might give oxygen to the FSM element that's willing to go volatile. But it won't be the RCI adding fuel as apart from my person, we're committed to being interested observers. As discussed earlier, Rannoch has no stake in asari politics. Economic or diplomatic.'

'All of that is hinging on an Ardat-Yakshi who could be long dead.', Liara pointed out, 'Are you really prepared to go to war over that, Qibbie?' Qibbie raised her eyebrows in bewonderment and replied, 'Oh, Mica is alive. Asari don't summary execute their less than favorable element. You people aren't batarians. The fact that no one has been able to pinpoint Mica's locale just means that Justicar Malala is still alive and pulling the strings of the order. Even if we never have been able to verify Malala's whereabouts as well.', Qibbie yawned with conviction and continued, 'I'm not the one going to war. Ellyon is going to war however and that was in the books for well over three decades. The fact that in the Expanse I'm prisoner 105674-Q is providence that fits a narrative. No one will finger the RCI. My orders are to keep Ellyon alive no matter what. Rannoch will forever honor the sacrifices made by Shepard and the crew of the Normandy that allowed us to reclaim Rannoch and to put an end to the Geth-war. Talking about Ellyon, It's time to return to bed because a little from now she will go for a glass of water, just as she always does.' Qibbie started to turn away from the desk Liara was sitting behind, only to be held back by her, 'You're forgetting your shotgun, Colonel.' Qibbie set herself in motion again and at the doorway she looked over her shoulder back at Liara, 'It's yours. Use it to kill your agent in my board of directors. He never told you anything we didn't want him to tell you anyway. Sleep well, Shadow Broker.' With that, Qibbie vanished into the hallway, but Liara called her back into view, 'Qibbie, why would Justicar Malala hold on to Mica? It doesn't make sense to me.' It took a while for Qibbie to lean into view and there was honest confusion on her face, 'Uhm, Malala can see the enddays coming as well. In the RCI there's a scenario where she's the one to "triumphantly rescue" Ellyon from the cryo chamber, reunite her with Mica and so earn herself the eternal gratitude of an autistic bio-weapon. Even with the current scenario, Malala has the ultimate blue-chip with Mica. I guess that we'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it.' Qibbie disappeared again and Liara called Glyph down. 'Glyph, boot all computers. We have work to do. And seal the door.'

'An RCI Colonel, one of their most effective and well respected operatives...', Liara murmered as her office came alive around her and the reinforced door silently bolted shut, '.., freely sharing all that information. But not volunteering her true purpose. I believe the RCI's intent to make sure Ellyon survives and Qibbie indeed makes for a convenient excuse in the Expanse. A nice revenge story. Qibbie is deniable. But not expendable. What was she not telling me? What does she want me to do?' Liara carefully put the shotgun aside and kept lingering on the weapon. Undeniably quarian, a fully working replica of Qibbie's personal shotgun. 'What did Qibbie say about the replica? Something about not trusting the embassy with really precious and dangerous tools? Does that mean that this shotgun isn't precious or dangerous?', Liara was stumped. She made a decision, 'Glyph, arrange for Admiral Vas Normandy to be here in two days. Credits aren't an object, just get her agenda cleared. I need her to fully inspect this weapon.' Glyph flew a little circle above Liara's head and vocalized, 'At once, mistress. It will be a delight to see mistress Tali again.'

Liara set to work and before long, her agents had received new directives. As Liara returned to bed as well and nestled herself in Shinobu's arms, the Shadow Broker's gaze turned fully towards the Greater Asari Expanse.

4.

At the breakfast table it was as if the night before hadn't happened. Ellyon fluttered around the kitchen that was heavy with the smell of freshly baked goods, scolding Shinobu for fingering the steaming breakfast rolls that she had just finished baking. Liara was in charge of the coffee-machine because neither Liara or Ellyon trusted Shinobu with the thing. It was the picture of a family that was working the morning-crankiness out of their systems while trying to work together to get the day started.

When the three joined Qibbie at the table, she looked up for her OT and remarked, 'Had my kids been here with me, the house would've been burned down by now. It makes me feel at home in an unsettling way I find to be weirdly comfortable.' Ellyon huffed as she offered Qibbie a mug of steaming-hot dextro-tea, 'I bet you do, raising kids and all. I can relate, forced as I am to raise my parents.' Qibbie chuckled as she gratefully accepted the mug and took the time to savor the aroma wafting from it, 'I meant to say that some things are remarkably simular the galaxy over. But your point works too.' Shinobu, busy with plastering strawberry-jam allover her breakfast-roll, added without looking up from her first art-project of the day, 'It's... cosy.' Ellyon sighed, defeated, 'Yeah, mom, thanks.' Liara, from behind her coffee, straight faced, 'I guess it's about time that Shino and I leave the nest and find a place of our own. Don't worry, mama Ellyon, you have raised us well and we'll be responsible young ladies, always carrying a fresh set of undies in our purses when we go out.' Now Shinobu paused her breakfast art and decided to add fuel to the mix, 'And we'll be good defensive drivers and never forget our wallets.' Ellyon dramatically threw her hands in the air, 'Sheesh! Alright already!' With her one eyebrow furrowed in anger, Ellyon took to committing murder one on her breakfast.

Qibbie kept on interacting with her OT between bites of her breakfast, sometimes nodding, sometimes raising her eyebrows and sometimes muttering something that closely sounded like 'keelah', though she would never admit to that. Liara's uninterested glances at Qibbie learned her nothing, as Qibbie's OT was of quarian make and fully operated on the quarian written language, an idol-script that even missed recurring patterns in the strings of symbols on Qibbie's OT-holoscreen. Eventually, Qibbie seemed satisfied and diverted her full attention to the breakfast table. How Ellyon was successful in presenting a dextro breakfast as rich in choice as their ususal breakfasts were was beyond Qibbie, but she was thankful for it nevertheless, 'That was a breakfast worthy of godkings, Elly. I didn't realise how much I actually miss your cooking.' Ellyon perked up, her anger vanishing in an instant, 'I'm glad! So, when are we leaving?'

'Whenever you're ready, I guess.', Qibbie reacted, not at all bothered by the sudden change of topic, 'The Futura has been overhauled and has been retro-fitted with a new drive-core and new systems. You'll love how she handles now.', Qibbie made a little gesture over her plate and rose from the table. Noting Shinobu's apparent confusion over it, Qibbie spoke friendly, 'I'm nothing if not quarian.' Shinobu quickly shook her head, 'No, sorry. I was trying to remember if I have seen Tali ever doing the same. I just got a short flashback of being on the Normandy. I.., am sorry.' Qibbie's face seemed to gain in sultryness as she lingered on Shinobu's words. When she spoke up again, her voice was almost fragile, 'Other people have ghosts. People like us have graveyards.' Qibbie lightly touched Shinobu's right shoulder in passing and moved towards the room she had spend the night in. Liara watched her go and then looked at Shinobu, who stoicly was finishing her own breakfast. Realising that Liara was observing her, Shinobu said, 'Truer words have yet to be spoken.' Liara sighed and mused that she was the one truly knowing who had said these true words. She decided against filling Shinobu in on what had transpired last night. Liara wasn't ready to involve Shinobu yet. Things had to be verified, cross-referenced, passed by different experts and then re-evaluated. The puzzle that was Colonel Qibbie Vas Rannoch, RCI, was not yet put together whole.

'Will you guys go do what you do?', Ellyon suddenly spoke up, 'I need to tidy the kitchen up and clear off this breakfast before I go.' Shinobu smiled at her daughter, 'I guess that for once, your mother and I can tidy up, sweetheart.' Liara nodded with fire, but Ellyon was shocked, 'Wha? Never! You'll just put everything away willy-nilly and that will bother me to no end at the other side of the galaxy. I won't stand for it! I won't!' Liara instinctively reached out to calm Ellyon down and found herself in New Hyde Park in the evening at christmas time. Liara realised that she was in a memory that Ellyon was sharing with her. A light snow was falling as the park was festively lit by colorful lights. A man dressed like an elf was operating an old-timy street-organ that was playing christmas carrols and happy people were strolling along. The anticipation for christmas was palpable and lingering heavily on the air. For moment, Liara let herself bask in the atmosphere of it all, even though she knew that she was swept up in Ellyon's happy place. A christmas eve from shortly before Ellyon's first manifestation as Sarat-Zashi. Liara was aware that Ellyon's outburst wasn't just about allowing her mothers to ruin her carefully arranged, just so, kitchen. Something more was bothering Ellyon and Liara hoped that here, in this everlasting christmas eve, Ellyon would open up about it. Liara's eyes searched the scene and saw Ellyon at the site where the 'elf' was operating the street-organ. She was putting some money in the man's beggartin and stepped back. A little door opened in the street-organ and a monkey wearing a fez on it's head jumped out of the organ. It scurried to the beggartin and bowed to Ellyon before grabbing the credits and scurrying back to it's home in the organ. Ellyon bowed back to the monkey. Back then she was convinced that the monkey was a real monky. When she learned later on that the monkey was in reality a very expensive piece of animatronics, she had cried for days over it. It struck Liara that her daughter, bowing to an animatronic monkey and now clapping along to a christmas diddy, also was a professor in modern history with a Chair at the New Oxford University. Liara came up behind her daughter and took one of Ellyon's long and droopy scalpplates that were resting on her shoulders, softly pinching the squashy tip of it. After a while Ellyon started, 'She betrayed me again.' Liara remained silent, content with playing with the tip of one of Ellyon's scalpplates. She was just enjoying that Ellyon allowed it. She wouldn't allow it outside of a sharing, that Liara knew for sure. After a while Ellyon continued, 'I overheard it all, mom. Qibbie doesn't know it, but she's a dead quarian walking. One day, all of this will catch up with her.' Liara nodded, not realising that Ellyon was standing with her back turned to her mother. 'It annoys me that I'm not even angry with her.', Ellyon extended with a voice that was nevertheless angry, 'Qibbie does as Qibbie is, but everything that she does is selfish, even if she makes it appear as if it's helping someone. When it all comes down to the wire, Qibbie will be the one meeting her ends. Whether or not I'll meet my ends will merely be a side-effect of that. Goddess! It's just one of the many scenarios, one of the angles, that Qibbie is playing. You know.., no.', Ellyon suddenly fell silent, thinking about something. 'What's going on in there?', Liara asked as she lightly tapped on top of Ellyon's head. Ellyon shortly giggled to Liara's delight and then turned serious again, 'Qibbie isn't a dead quarian. When that time comes for her, she'll dodge that bullet too. Qibbie is like the quarian auntie Aria. Or the quarian Elusive Man. That meeting with you last night? Moment by moment, word for word, movement by movement.., it all happened exactly on her terms. You were just along for the ride. No offense, mom.' Liara smiled, again not realising that Ellyon wasn't seeing it, 'None taken, sweetheart. I was realising the same thing. But I did manage to confuse her at the end.' Ellyon made a dismissive noise and returned, 'You didn't see the smile on her face before she turned around to answer you. It scares me. If Qibbie can run circles around the Shadow Broker, who else is getting bamboozled? What is everyone not seeing?'

'I fear that we'll only discover that when it gets to it. My agents have all gotten new priorities and they will come up with the pieces to the puzzle. But you should realise that the Expanse is on the verge of a civil war and that whatever Qibbie and you have to do to get to Mica will affect that powder-keg. And that leads to the next question, what will Qibbie get out of that? It occurs to me that everything that happened in the last thirty-five years has only served to strengthen the cards in her hand.'

'You disapprove.', Ellyon noted and Liara had some trouble processing the leap in logic. She took her time before answering, 'Mica is an Ardat-Yakshi. There's no telling in what state of mind she'll be when you find her, sweetheart. Please allow for her not jumping at the chance to elope with you, no matter how dire her current surrounding are.'

The scene shifted to a beach during sunset. A distance away from where Ellyon and Liara were standing, memory-Mica was doing cartwheels in the surf that washed up on the beach. Her laughter carried lightly over the sound of the ocean. 'Mica the terrible Ardath-Yakshi, the baby-stealing asari boogeyman that comes to get you when you're not listening to your parents and don't do your chores.', Ellyon spoke. 'Don't be like that.', Liara returned while watching the young asari doing gymnastics in the surf, wearning nothing but her underwear. Liara wondered when this memory was made, as she couldn't remember when Ellyon and Mica had ever been together outside of the FSM Institute for challenged asari. Ellyon had never made scenes up and Liara figured that her daughter wouldn't start doing so now. The scene was a solid memory, correct to the tiniest detail. 'You know very well what she's capable of doing. You survived it. I still share Sarina Pol's opinion on it. We can't change the fact that Ardat-Yakshi have to be monitored and chaperoned, but we can change how we go about it. When you extract Mica from where she's being held now, she'll need a lot of help, preferably from Sarina Pol on Thessia, sweetheart.'

Memory-Mica ran up to Ellyon, while throwing a handful of sand at her. The sand, a memory like anything else, didn't pose any threat to Ellyon and Liara, but Ellyon played her part in the memory by ducking away from the sand-attack, 'Stop it, Mica!' Mica closed the last of the distance, hands on her hips, 'Or what?' Mica reached for Ellyon's hand and they stood a while, swaying their locked hands from left to right, 'This is so awesome!', Mica sighed, 'All of this because you saw it in a vid? Oh, can I make a request?' Ellyon laughed genuinely and memory-Mica pulled a face at it, 'Don't laugh at it! You could watch a vid about the thessian highlands and we could there and pretend to be on a pic-nic. Or a vid of Shepardland Themepark! I always wanted to go there!' Ellyon looked at the excited girl holding her hands, 'I'll have to break this off, Mica. Back to reality...' Memory-Mica's face went from exhuberance to desperation, 'No, no! Please, Ellyon! A few more cartwheels! Just a few more..!' Ellyon pretended to think it over and surrendered, 'Go on then!' Mica hugged Ellyon like a storm and then ran back to the surf where she did her last allotted cartwheels.

'I actually watched a Shepardland vid.', Ellyon said with a shudder and Liara could do no less but to laugh freely. 'This is also the last time I've ever seen Mica happy. Whatever else, mom, whatever else, this is what I want to be to Mica. Her shot at happiness. I'll watch whatever vid it takes to remember for her if that makes her happy.', Ellyon paused and the scene switched back to christmas eve in New Hyde Park, 'It isn't about embracing eternity. I can do that with any asari bored enough to do something stimulating.'

'I thank you for putting that image in my head, young lady.', Liara scolded. 'No big.', Ellyon answered absently, 'I know that she needs to be in a.., controlled environment. There's just no other way. But her situation is my fault and I have to make it right. I've listened to mama Shino, I've listened to you, I have listened to Qibbie and fell in line for the fourty years that we agreed upon. Nothing came of it. Now I'm getting Mica my way and let the chips fall where they may. It won't be pretty. We have to break off, I guess this has taken more than a moment in the real world.' Liara nodded, 'Before we go, let your mother do the cleaning up. You push her away far too often as it is already.'

'Mama Shino gives me headaches.', Ellyon reacted, which rewarded her with a stern look from Liara. Casting her eyes downwards, Ellyon said, 'Okay, but you owe me.' Liara laughed, 'I'll get over it. Let's return.'

Not a moment after Liara had said it, they were back at the breakfast table and Ellyon ended her tantrum with, 'I'm sorry mama Shino. Thanks for offering to do it. Really.' Shinobu wasn't at all surprised with the sudden change of tone, 'Yeah, I expected as much. Did you at least take aboard anything your mother told you in that head of yours?' Ellyon rose from the table, fine with the given that Shinobu had picked up on the fact that a sharing had taken place, 'My scalpplates are bearing the sting, mom.', Ellyon said. She rounded the table and gave a Shinobu as quick kiss on the cheeck, 'I'll get ready then.'

Shinobu watched her daughter leave the room and then she turned to Liara, 'We're not going to like the evening news a few days from now, I'm sure. We should be ready for anything, including a summons from the Council.', Shinobu took her coffee-mug only to discover that she had emptied it already. She sighed, 'Why didn't our daughter become the crazy cat-lady that I wanted her to become? Or a tree-surgeon? Meter-maid? Burger flipper?' Liara took Shinobu's hand and pressed a kiss on it, 'Keep it together, love. This isn't the time to go cross-eyed and flaking out.'


	4. Part Two: Casting off

1.

Ellyon sat in the masterseat of the Futura, pushing and pulling the haptic interface with deft hands. Using only the indexfingers and middlefingers of both hands, it was obvious that she was trained by a quarian. That quarian, one Qibbie Vas Rannoch, sat in the co-pilot seat and had brought her legs up to rest on the co-pilot's console, which she hadn't bothered to activate. Qibbie was reclining instead with her hands folded at the back of her head. With her eyes closed, Qibbie was listening to rannochian folk, Ellyon guessed by the faint shards of music that she could pick up from Qibbie's earbuds.

Qibbie had first directed Ellyon to the Arcturus relay and then to one in turian space after which they landed in a region Ellyon didn't readily recognize. She was following a vector Qibbie had leasurely punched in after she had let the Futura drift for a while because she had fallen asleep. Ellyon hadn't mind the lull in Qibbie's alertness. She had waited thirtyfive years for this trip towards her redemption in the eyes of Mica L'Sidow, taking a few hours extra wouldn't make a difference anymore.

While Qibbie enjoyed rannochian neo-grassroots music, Ellyon wondered when exactly it was that her asari-side had taken the edges off of her human-side. Try as she might, she couldn't pinpoint an exact date and time. Ellyon could merely acknowledge that it had happened. There had come a point where Shinobu had noticed that her daughter had mellowed out a bit, what Ellyon had of course dismissed as Shinobu going cross-eyed. But over the years following, Ellyon herself noticed that she was less and less likely to blow her top when she was told to wait for a day or two.

As Qibbie was known to do, she went from being totally relaxed to being a ball of energy in a second and was out of the cockpit before Ellyon good and well realised that life had returned to her quarian companion. 'Qibbie! Close the hatch! The cockpit becomes a capsule that way!', Ellyon shouted, not realising that the situation was almost a true re-enactment of something that had played out between them more than fifty years ago. Qibbie didn't deign it worth an answer and merely threw the hatch shut. Ellyon rolled her eyes at it and checked the chronometer. Almost dinnertime, rannochian timeline-wise. Ellyon worried about dinner as she doubted Qibbie's ability to microwave an asari mixed grill dish successfully, let alone prepare something edible for herself.

Ellyon sighed as she realised that the excitement of being bombarded chief-pilot by Qibbie had ran its course. Qibbie was taking a vacation at her expense, Ellyon sourly reckoned. With sure hands, Ellyon programmed the autopilot and calibrated the perimeter-alerts. With one last deft push, she minizied the haptic controls and rose from her seat. The hatch however wouldn't budge and it took a moment for Ellyon to realise that Qibbie had adjusted the atmosphere in the living quarters of the Futura to rannoch-native. With a deep sigh, Ellyon returned to her seat and brought up the controls again to equalize the pressure between the cockpit and the living quarters. As she was waiting for that to happen, her initial annoyance over it ebbed away. Ellyon guessed that after two days of breathing in an atmosphere that was more dense than the atmosphere on Rannoch, Qibbie couldn't be faulted for wanting to breathe a little easier. A beep told Ellyon that the pressure in the cockpit was brought in line with the pressure anywhere else in the Futura and Ellyon rose from her seat a second time.

Spilling into the living area, Ellyon saw that Qibbie wasn't preparing food at all. Instead, the quarian had plopped down on the floor with a cloth-spread before her on which she had taken apart her shotgun. As Qibbie was busy cleaning her shotgun, she was keeping an eye on a media-screen that was tuned to the GNN, the Galactic News Network. Qibbie made a gesture to the screen, saying simply, 'Just in time for the Al-Jalaani segment. Shepard still hasn't killed her. Access to Salarian Prolong should be restricted for people called Al-Jalaani.' Ellyon chuckled as she moved into the mess and started to prep it for dinnertime.

On the screen, a well preserved Al-Jalaani appeared, standing amidst network paid public to simulate a 'live-show', 'Lipreaders say that Qibbie Vas Rannoch, the famous rannochian captain of industry, feels that Admiral Shepard's paintings are fraudulently appraised! But first, why does "professor" Ellyon Shepard-T'Soni, the troublesome daughter of Admiral Shepard and well-known historian Liara T'Soni visit Little Thessia's red-light district so often? An exclusive and eye-opening interview with an "embracer" claiming to be the dangerous counter-biotic's "best girl". This and more from allover the galaxy after these messages from our sponsors!'

Qibbie jumped up with all the energy of a nuclear impact, 'Ellyon! You buy sex? Go, girl!' Ellyon facepalmed in a manner that reminded eerily of Liara, 'Clean your shotgun.' Qibbie clapped her hands excitedly, 'Oh nonono, you're not weaseling out of this bombshell. You can spill the beans, or Jalaani can, you blue deviant! Your best girl must be doing awesome embrace eternities!' Ellyon turned deep blue, 'Sheesh! If you really need to know, I do bull-halex and ride the buzz in the arms of a cheap companion.' Qibbie was genuinely astounded, 'Ellyon! Bull-halex is meant for krochan! Not for an asari-midget!', Qibbie paused to overthink her words and continued, 'Forget the midget part, you know what I mean.' Shaking her head, Ellyon returned, 'I guess I should be flattered that you picked up on the Bull-halex. It.., it clears my head in one fell swoop, you know? Like a low-level reset.' Qibbie threw her hands in the air in excasperation, 'Yeah! Keelah! No kidding there, maniac!'

Ellyon didn't react to Qibbie's outburst and kept busy preparing food, 'You have no idea what kind of enemy my brain is. I retain everything and I'll experience it for the rest of my life. Did you know that I can word for word repeat what you said to me the very first time that we met? Even better, give me a date and time where you and I were together and I tell you what was said, verbatim and verbose, on that exact moment. I read a book and I can re-read it, just by looking over the shoulder of my memory-self reading the book. I can tell you how many leaves fall from the tree across the street in New Hyde Park during the fall for each separate year I lived there. You know the gnarly tree right from our front-door? That one. I can tell you how many times that you blink per minute and tell you right now, straight up, adjusted to this very moment, how many times you've blinked in the years that we've spend together. Every course that I ever took on the road to my professorate.., I can recount each and every one of them, down to the tiniest detail. Reconstruct the memory of them and walk around in it. I can sit down and live through thirty-four years of studying allover again. I need to be braindead, if only for a few blissful moments, because there are times where I don't know if what I'm doing or where I am is real at all.', Ellyon paused her monologue to put some filled plates in a cooker, turning away from Qibbie for a moment. Glancing over her shoulder, Ellyon picked up, 'There's no embracing eternity involved. It's not like my "best girl" is an Ardat-Yakshi. I mean, normal embrace eternities are weak-sauce. I pay her well to tell a different story when it comes to that, though. It seems it has come to it.', the cooker beeped and Ellyon retrieved the plates. The aromas of normal and dextro food, cooked to perfection, mixed to leave a peculiar, but not unfriendly, tinge in the air. Carefully, Ellyon placed the plates on the mess' counter, only to switch them around when she noticed that her plate was infront of Qibbie, 'I made you Highland-stew, I heard you talk about it way back when.'

'And you're confident that she'll hold up to her end of the deal?', Qibbie asked, followed by, 'Highland Stew? You spoil me!'. Both Qibbie and Ellyon ate in silence, the media-screen muted. After a while had passed, Ellyon answered as if no time had passed at all, 'Oh, yes. She'll tell some bogus story about how I want her to be Little Thessia Metro, "arresting" me for some handcuffed eternity. Normal stuff embracers do, you know. No credits in the world are worth a visit from an angry Sarat-Sashi.' Qibbie laughed freely, but she sobered quickly when she realised something, 'So, now I have a sado-macho shower in my shuttle, but no room for zonking out on Bull-halex. You could have trusted me with that bit of information earlier, do you know. Kee-, I mean, well... Bosh-tet it to a geth-server. Keelah. Why do you need someone present anyway?'

Ellyon looked casually up from her plate, 'To jumpstart my heart when it stops. The embracer I go to is an emergency-ward nurse by day. She has an abnormal desire for embracing eternity and my Halex-sessions are short. It wears off quickly for me. Easy money for her and she doesn't lose that much time.' Qibbie shook her head in bewilderment, 'Isn't there a safer way to empty your head? I mean, keelah, killing yourself to sort your rudders is a bit much, no?' Ellyon collected the empty plates and went up to tidy the mess just so, 'I'm the only living Sarat-Sashi, so where do I go to get advice? There's no manual for the only humasari.' Qibbie sighed in a resigned manner, 'Okay.' She turned to the media-screen and gave it a command. The screen started to explain how one goes about jumpstarting an asari heart. 'So the drama.', it sounded from the kitchen, to which Qibbie didn't react.

2.

Garrus Vakarian, the well loved and well respected Primarch of Palaven, the turian homeworld and her colonies, rubbed his temples. The morning sessions with his advisors were the hardest on him. There was still a lot to do, more than seventy years after the Reaper War had ended. Garrus had been looking forward to have his girlfriend, the ever excitable and still enormously popular Admiral and commanding officer of the Kal Reegar Brigade, Tali-Zora Vas Normandy around for a few days as the quarian Heavy Fleet had completed excercises and Tali would be on shoreleave for two weeks. Garrus and Tali's relationship was still going strong, even though they had never progressed beyond maintaining a romantic liason. How much it had to do with Tali misunderstanding the human understanding 'going steady' Garrus didn't know, but he admitted to like going steady too. Garrus reckoned that the understanding had a nice and warm ring to it. Voices were gaining strength that were saying that a Primiarch should be married instead of galivanting, which Tali liked even better as a title for their relationship, but Garrus knew his girlfriend. Any talk of officializing the relationship would land him in the doghouse for a length of time depending on Tali's benovalence.

The extra-net memes bothered Garrus a little. 'Saves galaxy, gets pussywhipped', 'One does not simply fuck a quarian', and so on, meant to crack a joke they nevertheless missed their mark with Garrus. Tali could laugh herself a nausia-attack over the memes.

But having Tali around for two weeks was out of the books for Garrus as Liara's T'Soni had thrown her credits around to have Tali's agenda cleared, following that up first class tickets on a very expensive luxury-liner to Earth. For Tali. Liara hadn't cleared Garrus' agenda and had obviously forgotten to book for him as well.

Garrus's aide, a lanky turian woman called Portha who'se uniform never seemed to fit her correctly, entered his office holding a pad, 'Primarch Vakarius, sir, your girlfriend is waiting in your personal rooms. You have twenty minutes until your next meeting, a trade-delegation from Rannoch. The group includes the rannochian minister of trade, the rannochian minister of interstellar relations, their aides and the vice-ceo of Vas Rannoch Industries, Tazzi Vas Pride of Dakuuna. You might be interested to learn that Vas Pride of Dakuuna is a retired Kal Reegar Marine who was part of a rannochain task-force of navy-engineers that helped with getting our major shipyard back on line.'

Garrus's mandibles twitched, 'Tazzi? She works for the rannochian shadow empire now? She never struck me as the business-type. I guess that corporate money eventually ensnares even the most free of spirits. I hope that Tazzi hasn't lost her penchant for getting laughing-fits. I can use the sound of a good looking quarian girl laughing in my life.'

'Duly noted, Primarch, sir.', his aide dryly acknowledged, 'Fifteen minutes to the meeting.' Garrus rose from his chair and pushed away from his desk, 'Portha, you're ever the taskmaster. Alert me when the rannochain delegation has arrived.' Portha curtly nodded and watched the Primarch leave his stateroom. Then she abandoned the stateroom too to occupy her own office again.

Garrus found his girlfriend looking at a replay of a society-item on the vidscreen in his private-rooms. Tali was next to that finishing up collecting her luggage together. The same luggage that she had unpacked when she had come to spend her shoreleave with him on Palaven, Garrus wryly observed. Tali looked up from her work and said, 'I bet that this is why Liara needs me.', Tali pointed loosely at the screen and then broke in the smile that she reserved for Garrus only. Garrus felt his annoyance melt away at seeing the especially for him smile on his girlfriend's face and then he shot a glance at the screen, 'Qibbie Vas Rannoch, of Vas Rannoch Industries?' Tali nodded and added, 'Or as we know her, Pollo Nar Qib-Qib. We both carried her in our arms when she was a baby.' Garrus shrugged, 'I don't see why you have to go to Earth because a gossip-show runs yet another item on her. The only good Vas Rannoch ever did for us is being more interesting for gossips than that we are.' Tali scratched the back of her head, 'There's that, of course. But this is recent footage of her visit to Shepard's latest vernissage. Vas Rannoch avoids Earth like the plague, normally opting for representatives to tend to her company's Earth-dealings. Even though she looks down on her people, Vas Rannoch is anything if not quarian.'

Garrus moved up to Tali and softly strokes her back, his fingers lingering on the sepearte disks that made up Tali's spine, 'I don't follow...' Tali closed her eyes for a bit to enjoy Garrus' carress, 'Fourty years ago she made Ellyon a promise. And there she is, about to make good on that. I'm sure of it. A lot of effort and resources has been wasted over the years to find that ardat-yakshi Ellyon is in love with. You can bet your life's savings that Vas Rannoch hasn't been successful in her own search for the ardat-yakshi. Bad times have arrived for a lot of people and my bet is that Liara is scrambling to limit the fallout ahead of time.', Tali stretched a bit to give Garrus more backside to carress, 'But enough. You and me, boyo. It's time to play darts.' Garrus chuckled, 'My favorite game.' Briefly Garrus tried to recall where Tali had picked up "boyo". He was sure that Tali didn't understand the meaning of the name, but merely liked the sound of it like she did with many earth-words. There was a Tali-meme about it too, "Gives compliment; Destroys while giving it" Garrus didn't mind. Whatever Tali did, Garrus was observing, proud of being Tali's boyfriend.

Ever since the Salarian Solution allowed fleet-quarians to go without their hardsuits for hours a day outside the sterility of their homes, Garrus had seen Tali mature into a beautiful and confident woman who yet had lost nothing from her girlishness and youthful excitability. In that, Garrus had compared her with Liara oftenly, only Tali was more bouncing off the walls than her asari counterpart. Salarian scientists had since perfected the solution's formula, allowing fleeties to go without a hardsuit for almost three days and if injected at a strict schedule and individually determined doses, hardsuits weren't even needed anymore for fleeties on Rannoch. Tali kept such a strict schedule, though Garrus would sometimes find her wearing her hardsuit just because she missed wearing it. Tali had explained it as being homesick.

'It's too early, superball.', Garrus stated, using his petname for Tali. A reference to Tali's legendary excitability. Garrus accepted the injector from Tali anyway, 'You'll end up in your hardsuit to avoid some infection or maybe even toe-fungi.' Tali wrinkled her nose. Toe-fungi were a true danger for digitrades. Going around walking on her toes, toe-fungi would make it impossible for Tali to walk, without even hinting about the pain it would give her, 'We don't joke about toe-fungi, boyo, I'm not a turian.', Tali referenced to the turian's natural leathery shielding, but her voice sounded however light. She dropped her pants and leaning on a table, she presented her back to Garrus, 'Hit me with your best shot.' Garrus sighed as he appreciated Tali making a bigger show out of getting injected with the Salarian Solution than she normally would. It was obvious that Tali was taking a risk with her auto-immune system to offer Garrus an olive-branch over abandoning him during her shoreleave.

Garrus was thinking about ways to tell Tali that he was over her leaving for Earth and finally realised that saying something would ruin Tali's gesture. She had made the perfect apology with it. No awkward words, no long explaining. Just her lowerback and an injector, a day too early and with more enthusiasm than the situation required. Garrus took a knee and sighed. All that quarian goodness was about to walk out of the door to stand by her friends, but leaving him behind. It wasn't fair, but Garrus said instead of all that, 'You still didn't get that target-tattoo on your butt-cheeck like you promised me, superball.' Tali laughed, 'I'll get it so- KEELAH!' Garrus had injected Tali exactly at the moment that she forgot that she was about to get injected and thus had relaxed her muscles. 'Every time...', Tali scolded herself, '.., he does that every time and I fall for it. Every time. I'm such a bosh'tet.' Tali involuntarily shivered when Garrus sofly cupped her buttocks with both hands and gently started a maddeningly slow massage. The gods of Rannoch were smiling upon her, Tali felt, 'I, uhm, you know... That first injection didn't take.', Tali wriggled suggestively under Garrus' hands and followed, 'You.., you should try again. B-but with feeling this time.' Tali inhaled sharply when she got what she asked for.

3.

Tali didn't know if she should be disappointed or satisfied as she boarded the luxury-liner to Earth. The sex had been nice, but sloppy because Garrus had a busy agenda. With a quick kiss and a 'be safe' after he had climaxed, Garrus had left for the next item on his primarch-agenda, leaving Tali belly-flopped on the table, heavily panting with her shirt shored up and her pants down her ankles. One side of Tali could see the humor in being abondoned like a disaster-zone while regaining a grasp on reality, the other side of Tali felt a bit abused. On top of that, even after taking the time to clean up before taking her leave from the Primarchial Palace, Tali couldn't shake off the feeling of being sticky between her legs. She was sure everyone could see it. All the stewards and attentendants that showed her through customs and tended to her needs in the VIP-lounge had smiles that in Tali's eyes were in-the-know 'you just came like a little bosh'tet' smiles. It had been a long time ago that Tali had been so awfully aware of herself last. She didn't like it at all.

Brooding behind an extravagant glass of Turian fruitpunch, that had a stirrer, drinking straws and a little umbrella sticking out of it, she awaited the boarding-call. The other VIPs in the lounge that gave her greeting nods as they recognized Tali as the Heavy Fleet Admiral and CO of the Kal Reegar Marines all seemed to be subtlely looking at her abdomen. Tali wished for being aboard the liner already, so that she could hide away in her extra-executive first class seat for however long it would take for her to regain the self-respect that she told herself that she had lost.

A salarian flight-attendant made his way over to where Tali was awaiting the boarding-call and bowed dutifully when he arrived, 'Admiral Vas Normandy. I'm Perdo Nilas and I'll be your personal assistant during the trip, with the compliments of the Shadow Broker. I'm instructed to honor any and all request that you might have during your time with us. But for now, please allow us the honor of seating you first.' Tali nodded friendly, 'Far be it from me to bring shame to the company, Nilas. Do you speak quarian?' Perdo Nilas, Tali's complimentary personal assistant, bowed and affirmed in perfect, if slightly accented quarian that he indeed had mastered the language. 'Very well. Let's go then, Nilas. We wouldn't want to delay the other travellers.', Tali spoke in quarian. She cursed inside. With a complimentary assistant hovering at the edges of her personal space that could speak quarian, reading sensitive material was out of the question. Tali sighed. Now she was forced to watch several hours of quarian chick-flicks. Only so many times that you can watch 'Fleet & Flotilla' afterall.

Nilas guided Tali to where she would be seated, regaling her with some trivia about the luxury liner as they went. But when Nilas wasn't heading towards the area of the liner that was reserved to the first class seats that were more first class than the normal first class seats, Tali spoke up, 'Nilas, aren't I seated in the extra-executive?' Nilas appeared professionally surprised, 'No, Admiral. I'm sure that your responsibilities are the cause for not realising that you'll be traveling in the private quarters of the Shadow Broker. His assistant, the veritable Mrs T'Soni-Shepard, will meet you there and entertain your company. I myself will of course be a button-press away.' Tali hadn't known that Liara would have personal quarters aboard a luxury liner. It explained why she was shown aboard first, Tali realised, Liara probably met with people here who wouldn't necessarily want to be seen. It was just so secretive for a person like Liara. Tali was sure that if Liara wouldn't ruin her Shadow Broker business if she broke the illusion that she was just the Shadow Broker's trustee, Liara would turn Shadow Broker Insterstellar into a totally open and transparent venture. Liara had already taken a big risk transforming the dealings of the Shadow Broker into a private company. Tali was still impressed with the fact that the galaxy, even after having lived through the Reaper-war, would still cling to the idea of the mysterious Shadow Broker. All what Liara had done since becoming the Shadow Broker had just deepened the legend. It made little sense, all things considered.

Nilas halted before an unassuming door in a cramped corridor deep in the bowels of the luxury-liner and opened it, 'Please.' Tali nodded friendly and stepped through. As Nilas closed the door behind her, staying on the other side himself, Tali took a moment to take in the oppulence of the Shadow Broker's private quarters surrounding her. She was standing at the edge of a tastefully decorated livingroom that not only had a well stocked bar, but that also gave way to an equally well outfitted kitchen. One wall even had a mock-fireplace with a vid-screen above it. A human chef was prepping the kitchen, ignoring the new arrival to the private quarters. From a room Tali guessed was an office, Liara entered the livingroom closely followed by a sharply uniformed asari assistant. 'Tali! Good to see you again! I trust that Perdo didn't bore you too much?' Liara embraced Tali warmly and Tali answered the embrace in kind, 'Perdo's a perfect gentleman, Liara. Your knack for selecting your employees is still on point.' Liara laughed but sobering quickly, she gestured Tali to take a seat on an outrageously expensive couch. Distracted from her awkward self-awareness, Tali plopped down. She couldn't help it, when she was with Liara, Tali lost sight on keeping decorum worthy of her station, 'It's great to talk to you in person again. Garrus sends you his wishes well. He would've loved to come with, though.' Liara showed the palms of her hands, 'I can't very well send Palaven in a death-spiral by suddenly having the Primarch's agenda cleared through mysterious means. Though I would have done it if the situation would've asked for it. But there's no sign that anything going on right now will affect the turian sphere in any way. They don't need to be involved.'

Tali was about to discuss the point some more, but the vid-screen above the mock-fireplace came alive. It showed the face of the chief-pilot, a grizzled looking batarian. 'Affirmative action.', Liara simply explained when she noticed the question on Tali's face. The chief-pilot welcomed the passengers, thanking some high-profile passengers along the way and went to explain the route to Earth that would be taken and ending with some information on what to do or not to do during the trip. 'That's the most polite and well-spoken batarian looking like a fanatic terrorist ever!', Tali exclaimed, while applauding the chief-pilot's speech as tradition demanded, oblivious of the fact that she was in the shielded off private quarters of Shadow Broker Liara. The latter took the lull in Tali's focus to fill the time during take off with light, but pleasurable, banter. Only when the liner was good and well in space and underway, did Liara invite Tali into her office.

4.

'No. There's nothing in the 8th edition rulebook hinting at not being able to have two of the same units on the board, Qibbie. I'm playing my Normandy-squad and yellow mom always had auntie Tali and blue mom in her team. It's even game-canon. So you can have your Kal Reegar edition Admiral Vas Normandy on the board as well.', Ellyon sounded a bit annoyed as she carefully took her game-miniatures from a foam-padded miniature holdingbox, 'You should be at an advantage anyway. I haven't played Hulks'n'Hulls in a mess of years. I stopped playing after season 210 because the golden treasure-chests were larger in number than the free lead treasure-chests. If you wanted to open all the golden treasure chests on the championship-map, it would cost you around 450 credits, remember? I laid down 1500 credits for my collector's edition Normandy squad and then you still had to pay 350 credits extra to get uncle Zaeed too! Uncle Zaeed was only included in the Normandy squad of you pre-ordered the collector's edition. I wanted to go for the leaderboards, but then you had to pay 150 credits for the individual exclusive ladder-maps to have a shot at the top thousand. It was getting too crazy.' Qibbie chuckled, 'I should know better than to twist the rules against you. You just re-read the rulebook in your mind.', Qibbie paused as she placed her Kal Reegar Brigade miniatures on an electronic playing-field. As she did that, the playing-board generated a holographic city-scape, a recreation of pre-reaperwar London, around the miniatures, 'Hulk'n'Hulls is still a moneypit though, but I don't mind. It's still cheaper than red sand. It's just that having two instances of Admiral Vas Normandy on the board is weird. Anyway, this is the new championship board for season 478. The Aliance has encountered a Thorian under parlaiment and it is mind controlling the Aliance leadership and the brittish talking heads. The Alliance, you in this case, want to reason with the Thorian, but the quarians, played by me, just want the Thorian gone because we're not okay with mind-controlling alien life-forms. We also enjoy explosions. There seven golden treasure chests on the board. Opening all seven has a guaranteed offensive foil-card with a holo of the Elusive Man and chance to win his limited edition miniature. I guess that's for people that play the Cerberus faction. Oh, Hulks'n'Hulls are introducing the adamantium treasure chest with this map. It holds a premium surprise for those that can find it and defeat the Thorian controlled miniboss guarding it.', Qibbie pushed a set of adventure-dice towards Ellyon, 'Roll for initiative.'

Ellyon accepted the adventure-dice, but didn't roll them just then, 'Qibbie, my auntie Tali miniature is the pilgrimage era one, it says so on the base. So, she's still Tali-Zora Nar Rayya. Arguably not even the same woman that you're fielding.', Ellyon picked up her cards and studied them. With a disgusted sigh, she discarded three cards and drew four new ones, following the rules for Hulks'n'Hulls to the letter. She took the time to study her cards again, 'Sheesh, I wanna play a pre-initiative gambit-card, but I can't draw a hand to save my life.' Qibbie shook her head in disgust, 'I guess that co-opping to the Thorian is out the window then. Have it your way, we'll PvP for it. But can we at least co-op to the adamantium chest? I'll gladly PvP you for the right to open it, but the Thorian will scale to spawn-level twelve and spawn nothing but asari commando-clones to guard the chest and the miniboss.' Ellyon laughed freely, 'Qibbie, you used to love PvP. You said it was the best way to delay your opponent because co-opping is giving the advantage away. The adamantium chest is hidden anyway. Are you really saying that we're going to wander around pre-war London in the hopes of coming across it? Do you have any idea how huge pre-war London was?' Qibbie lightly shook her head at Ellyon, but the light in her eyes betrayed the intent of the gesture, 'I bet it was very, very huge. And you hate London. So stop whiteknighting it. We'll make a stop at MI:5 and buy a hint. It's only 250 credits for a hint, so yeah. Not the end of the galaxy.'

'Are we trashtalking already?', Ellyon returned teasingly, 'Two can play that game, sister. But buying a hint makes sense. I should've guessed that Hulks'n'Hulls would put that behind a paywall too. Sheesh.' Now it was Qibbie's turn to sound a little annoyed, 'I'll pay for all the micro-transactions, alright? Now play a gambit and roll for initiative.' Ellyon's face brightened up, 'In that case, I really want that Elusive Man's offensive foil-card. Let's open the golden chests too!' Qibbie facepalmed, 'Keelah.., alright you blue squid. I hope that your infirmary has place for your parents because I'm going to make sure that you can't use them for at least three months.'

'Bring it, Nar Qib-Qib. I bet that you still don't know how to chain gambit-combos, so I'm not in any danger anyway.', Ellyon snarked. She picked up the adventure-dice and rolled for initiative, forfeiting the pre-initiative gambit opportunity. Before long the game was underway, lardered with friendly trashtalking and a lot of sheesh and keelah. Eventually, the duo moved their miniatures into the offices of the MI:5. Qibbie fiddled with her OT and paid the required 250 credits for the hint to the adamantium chest. Ellyon watched Qibbie's face go vacant, 'What does the hint say, Qibbie?' Qibbie was wholely at a loss, 'It reads; "Not only butt also". What kind of hint is that?' Ellyon laughed freely and clapped her hands, 'Seriously? It says that? That's so win!'

Qibbie chuckled, 'I guess that you know what the hint is talking about then.' Ellyon nodded enthusiastically, 'Oh yes, no need to do an extra-net search. It's a pun-title for an information-plague that once was in the London Zoo, well before the humans discovered the Prothean Archives on Mars. It had something to do with the preservation of water and limiting the amount of water that the London Zoo used on a daily basis. Before element-Z, humans had almost used up their planet's natural resources and were scrambling to find ways to make what they had left last the distance. So, the adamantium chest is in the London Zoo, I'm sure of it!'

'Wow, I have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to tie that hint into the Cerberus theme of the treasure-chests.', Qibbie remarked, what caused Ellyon to raise her one eyebrow at it, 'Cerberus has always worked for humanity's interests and preserving resources is historically in the interest of humanity. It makes sense at a meta-level, I guess.' Qibbie shrugged and sighed, 'Whatever. London Zoo it is.'

Qibbie and Ellyon's quest for the adamantium chest came to a hard fought end at the lion habitat in the London Zoo. Waves upon waves of asari commando clones had waylayed them and the stats of their miniatures had taken steep hits. Qibbie cried out in disgust as Hulks'n'Hulls generated the last obstacle to overcome, 'Harbinger?! They actually put a reaper between us and the chest? Harbinger is OP as heck! I swear by the soil of Rannoch, Ellyon, if you dare to even think of playing a pre-fight gambit-card now, I'll space you without feeling remorse over losing a friend. KEELAH!' Ellyon had a hurt look on her face as she discarded two cards, which Qibbie reckoned were two gambit-cards that Ellyon had been sitting on to play at this very moment, and drew three new cards, 'Sheesh.., didn't Hulks'n'Hulls post that Harbinger was nerfed a little while ago? I remember that the hard-core players were angry about casualizing the game.' Qibbie wrinkled her nose, 'Yeah, Harbinger can't chain reaction-fire anymore, so you can't squad-wipe on his activation-turn any longer. But that's all they did. Uhm, I have a pre-fight buff, but it will only buff any N7 in both teams. So, only your mother will be buffed. It won't matter much, but I'll play it anyway.' Ellyon studied her new cards, 'I only have a pre-fight buff for uncle Garrus. But I didn't field him. I have a stasis gambit, but it's also pre-fight and Harbinger is a reaper so he can't be pre-fight debuffed. We're kinda screwed, Qibbie.' Qibbie took a sip from her dextro-soda while making a dismissive gesture with her free hand, 'We'll give it our best shot. I have learned to chain offensive combos, Ellyon. I do wish I hadn't discarded my orbital-laser card, you'll see that I'll draw 'Shepard's Tactic' next. That would've have doubled the damage of the orbital laser. But how was I supposed to know that Hulks'n'Hulls would spawn Harbinger?' Ellyon took some time to think about that and then spoke up, 'I guess it's a reference to the Elusive Man's desire to control the reapers. Maybe Hulks'n'Hulls goes by a scenario where the Elusive Man was successful and Harbinger is defending the adamantium chest on the Elusive Man's saying so. We should've anticipated the appearance of a reaper, in hindsight.'

Without having any pre-fight cards, Ellyon rolled to resolve her offensive turn, followed by Qibbie playing her N7 buff and rolling for her offensive turn. After a nail-biting battle Harbinger finally fell and all the miniatures that Qibbie and Ellyon had left between them was a near death generic Kal Reegar marine and a severely battered Liara T'Soni mini. An epic diddy sounded and a message appeared on the board, 'Well done! You have defeated Harbinger, the Elusive Man's lackey! You're close to getting your hands on Cerberus' riches! Today only, enjoy a 10% discount on the best value pack of adamantium keycodes! Or buy the 'All locks are biolocks' subscription package that allows for opening 25 golden treasure chests and five adamantium treasure chests. 'All lock are biolocks' also includes the rare and unique 'Override any lock from afar' gambit-card that's the must have card for the hard-core treasure chest PvP Hulks'n'Hullers at first time buy. Prices include VAT where applicable.'

Qibbie fiddled with her OT and bought a single use adamantium keycode. Upon opening the adamantium chest, Qibbie screamed terrible quarian profanities and stormed off to the cockpit, slamming the hatch behind her hard enough for Ellyon to winge. After a little while had passed and the epic victory music coming from the game-board started to loop, Ellyon dared inspecting the message-box that had send Qibbie in a rage. 'You're epic! You have successfully pilfered Cerberus' riches and your prize is a limited edition Cerberus skinned Mattock assault rifle offensive foil-card that you can print out and collect at your nearest official Hulks'n'Hulls friendship store! Are you disappointed that you didn't win the exclusive defensive golden foil-card of the Cerberus skinned Harrier assault rifle? Be the envy of your friends and buy the one-time offer upgrade-voucher! Only 1000 credits for a limited time! Act now!'

Ellyon sank back into her chair disappointed, not really knowing what to do next. She wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do, but she worked her OT. Ellyon upgraded the Mattock to the Harrier and then relinguished the spoils of the adamantium chest to Qibbie's account. She shot a few glances at the cockpit hatch as she carefully stored the miniatures away in their boxes, but there was no sign of life coming from the cockpit. The situation remained that way until long after Ellyon had gone to bunk. Far away in a deep sleep, Ellyon wasn't aware that Qibbie had docked the Futura and had cycled through the airlock. Only when Ellyon woke and discovered that the Futura's engine was cold and Qibbie nowhere to be found, did she find that the Futura was docked at Omega.


End file.
